44 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[ACG. 6, 1891. 



THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION. 



BY invitation of the several scientific societies in 

 Washington, the fortieth meeting of the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science will be held 

 in the city of Washington, beginning with the Council 

 meeting on Monday, Aug. 17. As there will be meetings 

 of several affiliated' societies about the time of the Asso- 

 ciation meeting, and as the International Congress of 

 Geologists will hold its first meeting in this country dur- 

 ing the last week in August, the official time given for 

 the Association meeting will be from Aug. 17 to Sept. 2. 

 Tliis will give members of the Association an opportu- 

 nity to attend the meetings of the other societies. 



By a special vote of the Council of the Association, 

 foreign members of the International Congress of Geolo- 

 gists are made honorary associates of the Association for 

 this meeting. 



The hotel headquarters for the Association will be at 

 the Arlington Hotel, near the buildings of the Columbian 

 University, in which will be the oiiices, the hall for 

 general sessions and'the rooms for the several sections. 

 The register will be opened on Monday, Aug. 18, in 

 Columbian University. 



The local committee, of which Mr. Marcus Baker, of 

 the U. S. Geological Survey, Washington, D. C, is secre- 

 tary, has issued a general circular and programme of the 

 meeting, which gives information as to hotels, railroad 

 rates and the doings of scientific bodies during the meet- 

 ing. This circular and any other information as to local 

 arrangements can be had by addressing Mr, Baker, while 

 information as to membership and papers may be had of 

 the permanent secretary, Prof. F. W. Putnam, Salem, 

 Mass., up to Aug. 10, after which date his address Avill be 

 the Arlington, Washington, D. C. 



GOOD-NATURED RATTLESNAKES. 



SHASTA, Cal., July 2(5.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 Perhaps the following notes are worthy of recording 

 as instances that rattlesnakes do not always bite. Both 

 occurrences I can vouch for: 



About the first of this month three children, the oldest 

 being five years of age, near Whitmore in Shasta county, 

 were found under the house, which was raised somewhat 

 from the ground, having a fine time. They had been 

 there within hearing of their mother for about an hour, 

 shouting and laughing. Curious to know what enter- 

 tained them, the mother finally looked in to find them 

 playing with a rattlesnake. The snake pleased them 

 greatly by coiling and sounding Iris string of rattles, 

 twelve in number. The children were taken away un- 

 harmed and the snake was killed. 



At Paul's Mine, near this place, yesterday, a youngster 

 of five years came down the hill to the mine carrying a 

 rattlesnake with eight rattles in his hand. The boy had 

 carried the snake in view of the workmen, who could not 

 determine what he had, for at least 200yds. The little 

 fellow held the snake somewhere near its middle, while 

 both extremities of the reptile dangled about his bare 

 feet and legs. The boy was told to drop it, which he did 

 reluctantly, and the men killed it. The snake was 3ft. 

 in length, seemed active, and in full possession of its 

 faculties. 



Now, in the first instance noted here, the snake may 

 not have had sufficient aggravation to cause it to strike; 

 but in the latter instance this reason cannot be advanced. 



Perhaps some of your readers can say why rattlesnakes 

 do not always bite. Leroy. 



WHAT PORCUPINES EAT. 



I]ditor Forest and Stream: 



There has been considerable talk in our paper on the 

 habits of the American porcupine. Now, I was a land 

 appraiser for the Fox and Wisconsin Improvement Com- 

 pany in twenty-eight of the counties of Wisconsin, and 

 traj)ped in the northern part of that State, and I think I 

 met this wood hog in very many of his habitats and know 

 something about the critter. Why, he will eat anything 

 that any hog will, and more. He is a thief by night 

 around your camp, will carry off your axes and girdle the 

 handles thereof (for the salt of the sweaty hand, preeum- 

 ably); gnaw all the strings from your snowshoes; and if 

 one gets into your cabra in your absence good bye to 

 everything in the soft line— skins, furs, even to greasy 

 overalls. The last one that visited our cabin had a picnic. 

 We proposed to break camp that afternoon, and had got 

 our the remnants of our larder, previous to packing up, 

 when we were called ofi: for an hour or two. When we 

 got back two of the rascals were just emerging from the 

 cabin with plethoric stomachs. Upon entering we dis- 

 covered that the flour, pork, and about a quarter-pound 

 of coffee were gone, and only a small string of onions 

 left. Innocent! humph, but a perfect nuisance around 

 camp where you have to lock everything up or hang it 

 high and dry. 



But as to their habits. In northern Wisconsin we 

 found that almost invariably during the winter they fed 

 on the tender buds of the hemlock and the linden or bass- 

 wood, sojourning for a week or ten days at a time on one 

 tree and then crossing to the other. Their gullies or 

 beaten tracks through the snow could be found in every 

 direction and they invariably led to and from these trees 

 and to their den or nest under a turned up stump or hole 

 in the rocks. We could always find one of them lying 

 out on a limb of one or the other qf these trees. An old 

 Indian that was camped (if his habitat could be called 

 such) near us one winter was too naturally tired to hunt 

 deer, of which there were jDlenty in that section; but he 

 could easily find the trail of a porcupine; and it is said 

 that he absolutely ate more than sixty of these stinking 

 animals during the season. Eat them! Faugh! Stick 

 your nose once into a porcupine's nest toward spring and 

 it would be enough. They are a species of hog. Scald 

 off the hair and quills and you have a little pig to all ap- 

 pearances. Looks nice, too. A kind of rind and fat be- 

 fore reaching the meat, but of so rank a flavor that none 

 but a starving man could tolerate it for a moment. We 

 have in oar experience been driven to great extremities, 

 when crow, hawk and owl made comparatively fair 

 Boups; but porcupine flesh, whew! we would starve first. 

 We have tried it, and the meanest, ill flavored flesh In 

 the world is the American porcupine as we found it, 



Why, the only thing about them worth a continental is 

 a few of their broken quills for the squaws to work up to 

 sell women or tenderleet. And these same quiUs are a 

 big nuisance sometimes, for we had one driven through om- 

 moccasin into the sole of the foot. We pulled it out with 

 a pair of buUet-moulds (the whole of it, we supposed), 

 but the foot festered and was very sore for several days, 

 when it got perfectly well. A year afterward a cat boil, 

 as we thought, was found on our thigh. It was quite 

 painful, and our canvas trousers continually caught on 

 it. One evening, after being annoyed considerably dur- 

 ing the day from the friction, we made careful examina- 

 tion and discovered a point of something protruding 

 from the apex of our little cat boil. Upon applying the 

 bullet-moulds a good half-inch of porcupine quill was 

 drawn out. A quill, you are aware, has a sharp point, 

 gimlet-like or like the beard of wheat. After the first 

 penetration of the skin every motion of the body will 

 cause it to work its way farther in. We have known 

 dogs to have these quills work through their jaws and 

 neck, and I am informed even through their heads. We 

 had suffered no pain or inconvenience whatever from 

 this piece of quill for more than a year, showing conclu- 

 sively that in its ti'avels it had confined itself to the easy 

 road of flesh which the doctors say has no feeling, that 

 is, that feeling is confined to the nerves and muscles lying 

 between the skin and flesh, or between the flesh and 

 bone of humanity, and I presume of animals as well. 

 No, sir; we have a very poor opinion of the American 

 porcupine as we found him and don't want any of him 

 in ours, Jacobstaff. 



THE CAROLINA PAROQUET. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I quote the following remarks on the abundance of the 

 Carolina laaroquet in 1869 from Dr, Allen's ''Winter 

 Birds and Mammals of East Florida": "Common, Hun- 

 dreds are captured every winter on the lower St, John's 

 by professional bird-catchers and sent to the Northern 

 cities. Thousands are destroyed wantonly by sportsmen," 



Since the above was written the causes which Dr, Allen 

 noted have almost accomplished the result he predicted — 

 the extermination of this beautiful bu-d. It is true the 

 species is known to exist in greater or less numbers in the 

 wilder, uninhabited parts of the State, and here, pro- 

 tected by the inaccessibility of its haunts, it is hoped a 

 few birds may survive for many years to come. 



These twenty-two years so important in the history of 

 the paroquet have added little to our knowledge of its 

 habits, and beyond a few records we have no data bearing 

 on the further causes which have led to the bird's gradual 

 disaijpearance. 



Doubtless many of your correspondents have had ex- 

 periences with the paroquet, and I beg you will earnestly 

 request them to place even the briefest notes on record in 

 your columns as a contribution to our scant store of in- 

 formation concerning our only representative of the 

 family Psittacidce. Frank M, Chapman, 



AMBBiCAN Museum of Natural Histobt, New York City. 



hard-working, industrious people. They seldom do any 

 shooting. And I have never known them to find any 

 fault with sportsmen shooting on their lands, if they 

 behave like gentlemen. Any of the employees of the C. 

 & N. W. R. E, will give sportsmen any information they 

 can in regard to game, and take great delight in doing so. 

 A railroad man is seldom found that does not like a dog 

 and gun. 



About fifteen or twenty miles northwest of Bancroft 

 are located the celebrated Chain Lakes, where, in 

 season, fine duck shooting may be had. There are good 

 shooting grounds all the way from Bancroft to the lakes. 

 Sportsmen who like fishing can catch plenty of bass, wall- 

 eyed pike and pickerel in any of the long chain of lakes. 



Seven miles north of Bancroft is located the new town 

 of Ledyard, where good chicken and duck snooting may 

 be had. There are many small lakes and sloughs in that 

 part of the country, and at times there is as fine mallard 

 duck and teal shooting as the sportsman would wish. 



Seven or eight miles north of Ledyard we find a very 

 pretty little town called Elmore. It is situated in the 

 southern edge of Minnesota, where the C. & N . W. and 

 the S. C. & St. P. railroads come together. Many years 

 ago, along in 1857 or 1858, all the land in the north part 

 of Kossuth county, la. , was put on the market and the 

 consequence was that most of the land fell into the hands 

 of speculators and was not settled upon. As soon as the 

 homestead law was passed the land in the southern part 

 «f Minnesota was opened for homestead entry and a set- 

 tler made a homestead on every quarter section, so that 

 north of Elmore nearly all the land was cultivated, while 

 south of Elmore it was unbroken prairie. This prairie 

 has always been a great breeding ground for prairie 

 chickens, ducks, geese, sandhill and white or whooping 

 cranes. At some seasons of the year it is covered with 

 golden plover. All the snipe family have always been 

 plenty in that part of the country. 



I would say to the sportsmen coming West, bring your 

 dogs along, as you may not always be able to get one at 

 or near the shooting grounds. It will do your dogs good 

 to run on the prairie. There is plenty of water for them 

 this season, so that the shooter will not have to take a jug 

 of water with him for the dogs. 



In another article I will tell the sportsmen of other loca- 

 tions where I have done a great deal of shooting and 

 always found plenty of birds. I have shot a great deal of 

 game in northwestern Iowa, southern Minnesota and 

 South Dakota during the last twenty-six years. There 

 are to-day some as good prairie chicken grounds as can 

 be found in the country. J. G, S. 



[Such information as is here given is very useful; and 

 on behalf of the many sportsmen who would value it we 

 invite other readers to send us similar notes of good 

 shooting grounds.] 



OtJRE FOR Viper Bite.— A Paris (France) despatch 

 announces that the Academy of Medicine has awarded 

 the Arfila prize to Prof, Kaufman, of the Veterinary 

 College, at Alfort, for a lotion for the cure of viper bites, 

 consisting of one part of chromic acid dissolved in one 

 hundred parts of water. This will have an interest for a 

 large class of people in this countiy who are interested in 

 snakes and snake bite. The viper is the only A^'enomous 

 snake which inhabits England, and while its bite does 

 not cause death, it is extremely painful and very much 

 dreaded. The telegram quoted says nothing as to the 

 method of application of the announced remedy, but if 

 the prize has been awarded as stated, there can be httle 

 doubt that the remedy has been sufiiciently tested. 



^^me ^dg md 



The full texts of the game laws of all the States, Terri- 

 tories and British Provinces are given In the Booli of the 

 Game Laws. 



PRAIRIE CHICKENS AND DUCKS. 



BEING located in a game country, I am constantly 

 receiving letters asking the question, "Where shall 

 I go for good shooting? What are the prospects for 

 prairie chickens and ducks?" I know of no better way 

 of reaching Eastern sportsmen than through the Forest 

 AND Stream, The prospects for good shooting this sea- 

 son are very fine, and sportsmen may look forward to 

 Sept, 1 with a great deal of pleasure. I do not think the 

 crop of prairie chickens has ever been much better 

 throughout northwestern Iowa, southwestern Minnesota 

 and South Dakota , and as we have had a large rainfall 

 the lakes and sloughs are well filled with water. Water 

 we must have in this part of the country in order to have 

 good duck shooting. The laUes and sloughs must be full 

 of water or the ducks will not stop on their way South. 

 There must be a great amount of feed, such as wild rice, 

 wild celery, etc. None of these plants grow to perfection 

 in a dry season. We had a great spring flight of ducks 

 and geese, and many of them stayed with us. I have seen 

 several flocks of young ducks, and almost every slough 

 has two or three flocks of young ducks feeding on tJ 

 green tender grasses that grow all around them. 



Now in answer to the question "Where shall we go for 

 our shooting?" The sportsman does not want to go to 

 too large a town for his headquarters. It is better for 

 him to be at or near some small town or a town of mod- 

 erate size. He can get to the shooting grounds with very 

 much less trouble, and there is usually less shooting anS^ 

 more game. Bancroft, la., on the Chicago & Northwest- 

 em Eailroad, is located in a fine prairie chicken and duck 

 country. The town has good hotels, and any of the local 

 sportsmen in that place take great pleasure in giving 

 Eastern sportsmen all the information they can in regard 

 to the shooting. The town is located in a pi-airie country, 

 so that the sportsman will have to go but a short dis- 

 tance from town to have good chicken shooting. The 

 view from the town is very fine. Splendid grain fields 

 are on every side, and after the grain is harvested chick- 

 ens may be found in almost every field. 



North of Bancroft the country is settled by people from 

 northern Europe, who loave splendid farms and are very 



CONNECTICUT BIRDS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Under the above caption in your issue of July 30 a 

 writer, who signs himself "F'lin," says he has "passed a 

 few days recently in Windham county. Conn., and was 

 gratified to find how splendidly the birds [prestimably 

 'F'lin' meant game birdt] had wintered." Again he says: 

 "Despite the close season these birds are now being shot 

 in small numbers by pot-hunters," "Before many weeks, 

 also, the woods will be fenced with partridge snares," 

 and then "Fl'in" adds: "I know some of these evil doers, 

 but I am tongue tied; * * * they are my friends." [Italics 

 mine,] "Fl'm" winds up his knitting work by saying: 

 "A Hartford game protector could do considerable good 

 in this locality," 



As the writer is evidently the "Hartford game pro- 

 tector," perhaps I can enlighten the "tongue-tied" party 

 whose friends are poachers. 



Windham county. Conn,, contains 15 towns, and the 

 following officers have been elected to enforce the laws 

 of Connecticut in their county and towns: Windham 

 county, Sherifl: Charles P. Pomeroy, Willimantic, 

 Deputy- Sheriffs Frank E, Baker, Brooklyn; Nathaniel P. 

 Thompson, Central Village; Wm, N, Bates, Thompson; 

 Oliver W. Bowen, Danielson villa; E, C. Vinton, Wood- 

 stock; Henry A. Braman, E-istford; Dewit C. Park, Put- 

 nam; Fred L. Clark, Willimantic. The above officers are 

 supposed to arrest any one found in the act of committing 

 a crime (violations of the game and fish law come under 

 the head of crime) or on speedy information of the oflfense. 

 The above officers can act anywhere in the county. 



Constables who are supposed to enforce the game and 

 fish laws (as well as the other laws) in their towns: Charles 

 A. Gould and William H. Williams, Brooklyn; Robt. D. 

 W. Knowlton and Theodore M. Lyon, Ashford; Elmer E. 

 Richmond and Louis D. Howe, Canterbury; George A, 

 Reed and Wm, N. Smith, Chaplin; G. B. Marcy, C. 

 A. Rice, H, A. Braman, W. A, Stewart, Lee Lyon, Orlo 

 Carpenter and Amoa Cheeney, Eastford; Allen Jewett, 

 Geo, H. Kimball and Leroy Pearl, Hampton; Edward S. 

 Carpenter, Chas. E. Young, Marcus Bastow, Frank A. 

 Chase, Edwin A. Chase, Edward Arnold and Melvin E, 

 Fisher. Killingly; Nathaniel P. Thompson, Geo. R. Bliven. 

 Geo. S, Ladd and Stephen S, Wilbur, 2d, Plainfield; 

 Orrin C. Spencer and Edwin T. White, Pomfret; Milo P. 

 Corbin, Frederic E. Franklin, Chas. E. Breault, Geo. War- 

 ren, David Beausoliel and Jared B. Talbot, Putnam; 

 Lucian Bass and Leander Cady, Scotland; Geo. W. Stone, 

 Benj. F. Baton and Alex H. Gillis, Sterling; Roscoe Alton, 

 Wm. N. Bates, John Fredeaer, G>^o, A. Putney and Harvey 

 Ducat, Thompson; Edward T. Grimes, J. Godfrey La 

 Palme, J, Henry Hill, Edward S. Lincoln, Geo. A. Mur- 

 dock, Andrew W. Loomis and Samuel C. Flint, Wind- 

 ham; Harris L. Sanger, F. Olin ChaflEee and Geo, Fox, 

 Woodstock. 



In addition to the above oflScers, each town has from 

 two to five grand jurors whose duties are given and read: 

 "The grand jurors of the several towns shall diligently 

 inquire after and make due complaints of all crimes and 

 misdemeanors" committed in thfir town. It should be 

 understood by "F'lin" and other "tongue-tied" parties that 

 the "Hartford game protector" has no jurisdiction in 

 "Windham county, Conn." When a man shoots or kills 

 game out of season he is a game thief and is far below 

 the level of a chicken thief. 



If "F'lin" or any other party will write me "confiden- 

 tially" of any violation of the game and fish laws in this 

 State I will endeavor to put a stop to the practice. I will 

 not use my informant's name in any way, or in other 

 words, will not "give him away." But I prefer state- 

 ments from men who ar« not afraid to do right and help 



